This invention relates in general to the telephone industry, and in particular to a device and method that allows a consumer to provide prepaid calling credit.
Greeting cards, such as birthday cards and friendship cards, etc., have traditionally been used to communicate with a friend or relative on special occasions. Greeting cards are also used to communicate with persons who have not had an opportunity to speak to each other for an extended period of time. This is especially true for persons living in different cities.
A long distance phone call is another way for persons separated geographically to communicate from time to time. A phone call provides the benefit of interactive conversation, and further allows for more detailed discussions than are generally associated with greeting cards, which are often used to provide a memento of an occasion along with an accompanying short note. Thus, the two forms of communication provide related but different benefits.
It is, of course, possible for the sender of a greeting card to follow up with a telephone call to the intended recipient to achieve the benefits of both forms of communication. However, it is difficult, if not impossible, to predict how long it will take for mail to be delivered from one city to another. Thus, there is the possibility that the sender will guess incorrectly and place a telephone call to the intended recipient prior to delivery of the greeting card, thereby spoiling the potential surprise of the card and the written note found inside. Further, some intended recipients are extremely busy, and, thus, it may be difficult to reach such persons with a follow up telephone call.
Another possible scenario is that the recipient of the card could place a telephone call to the sender after receiving the greeting card, either because the sender requested such a telephone call in a written note inside the card, or because the recipient desired to contact the sender by telephone or thought such a gesture would be courteous. However, when the recipient does not have enough money to afford a long distance telephone call, such as, for example, a teenager or college student, they may not be able to place such a telephone call. Also, the recipient might initially intend to place such a return telephone call, but might never actually take the time to follow through and actually place the call.
Further, there may be instances when a person desires to make a gift of a prepaid amount of long distance credit to another person. One example is a parent providing a child with such a gift. While providing the child with the parent's long distance calling card number might be one way of effectuating the result, there is, of course, the risk that the child will incur a larger long distance bill than either intended or desired by the parent.
To date, there have not been any attempts to provide a method and system for combining the benefits of a greeting card with the benefits of a long distance telephone call. It is therefore desirable to provide a method and assembly for facilitating and encouraging a return telephone call from a geographically distant recipient of a greeting card. It is also desirable to provide a method and assembly for making a gift of a prepaid, predetermined amount of calling credit accompanied by a greeting card which may also commemorate a special occasion.